The build up to Anzac Day is well and truly underway in Forbes with about 110 locals getting into the spirit on Saturday night at the RSL sub-branch’s Gallipoli Centenary Ball.
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A great crowd turned out to the Forbes Services Memorial Club on Saturday night to commemorate the 100 years since the landing at Gallipoli and Forbes RSL sub-branch president Michael Walker said it was a wonderful evening.
“It was an excellent night, I thought it was very good,” he said.
“It’s a great build-up to Anzac Day.
“All the people there wanted to be there and had a great time...they were all there for the right reasons.”
The venue was transformed with Anzac memorabilia including camouflage backdrops, poppies, flags and faces of Forbes veterans which added to the atmosphere of the evening.
Mr Walker said the decorating credits should go to sub-branch secretary Trevor Currey and his family, as well as Lindy Sherritt, Helen Westwood and Jolene Jones.
“The venue was done up beautifully,” Mr Walker said.
Andrew Drane officially launched the eBook of T. E. Drane’s diaries at the event and spoke to the crowd about some of the facets of the eBook, including extra information about events, people and places that T. E. Drane wrote about in his diaries during his time at war.
T. E. Drane was the 53rd Australian to sign up to the war effort in 1914 and the first Forbes person to do so. He was one of the men who landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915 and details his experiences in his diary.
The official guest speaker of the night was Damien Thomlinson, an Australian veteran of the war in Afghanistan, who had the crowd captivated by his story.
Damien lost both of his legs in a bomb explosion in Afghanistan in 2009 and by all accounts he should have been dead, but he fought back against his injuries with perseverance, strength and a true Aussie larrikin spirit.
He was determined not only to survive, but to meet life head on.
The former Special Forces soldier is now an aspiring Paralympian, author, corporate speaker and ambassador.
“Andrew Drane and Damien Thomlinson were very informative and very entertaining speakers,” Mr Walker said.
“Damien was very good, he’s a very inspirational young man.”
The band Rococo was a great hit and had the crowd up and dancing well into the night.
All proceeds from event will go towards CanAssist and Lachlan Legacy.
